Posted on 03/02/2017 2:21:04 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
President Trump’s claims that the Obama administration sought to undermine his presidency received some support on Wednesday from a New York Times report on the Obama White House’s activities in the weeks before the inauguration.
According to The Times, Obama White House officials waged a campaign to procure, save and disperse classified intelligence regarding Trump associates’ contacts with Russians.
The campaign also involved curtailing the Trump team’s access to highly classified information and of lowering classification ratings on other information about the ongoing Russia investigation so that it could be more widely shared across the government.
According to The Times’ sources, the Obama officials waged the campaign out of fear that the Trump administration would cover up or destroy some of the information.
The campaign was multifaceted but was not directed by Obama himself, the Times sources claimed.
The wide-ranging report also includes some information that is not positive for Trump, including that federal investigators were given intelligence from foreign services that some Trump associates met with Russians in the Netherlands and Britain.
That detail adds new information to a report from The Times last month that U.S. investigators had evidence that some Trump campaign advisers communicated with Russian government officials before the election.
That report noted that U.S. officials do not yet have evidence of any coordination between Trump advisers and the Russian government to influence the election. The White House strongly denied the claims made in that report, and asserted the FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe told Trump’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus, that the story was “bullshit.”
The Obama administration’s intelligence-sharing effort involved the White House, intelligence agencies and State Department, The Times reports.
According to the newspaper, some Obama White House officials asked specific questions in intelligence briefings because they knew the questions and answers would be documented and saved for future review.
Intelligence agencies ramped up efforts to convert raw intelligence gathered on Trump advisers into information that could be used by analysts. The intelligence was also classified at relatively low levels “to ensure as wide a readership as possible across the government,” according to The Times.
The State Department, then led by John Kerry, also took part in the intelligence-sharing campaign. The agency sent a batch of documents classified as “Secret” to Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, just before the election.
The Obama officials also moved to cap the number of incoming Trump officials who could view extremely sensitive information, “including the names of sources and the identities of foreigners who were regularly monitored.”
The scheme would seem to lend support to Trump’s claims that the Obama White House sought to undermine his presidency by leaking classified information.
“I think that President Obama is behind it because his people are certainly behind it. And some of the leaks possibly come from that group, which are really serious because they are very bad in terms of national security. But I also understand that is politics. In terms of him being behind things, that’s politics. And it will probably continue,” Trump told Fox & Friends in an interview this week.
Trump has alleged that Obama appointees still working in the government have leaked information about some of his phone calls with foreign leaders and about Michael Flynn, the former Trump national security adviser who resigned last month because of phone calls he had with Russia’s ambassador in December.
The Times report provides new details about the information being reviewed as part of the expansive investigation into Russia’s attempts to influence the election.
The newspaper’s sources said that in late summer, American intelligence officials began picking up discussions in which Russian officials mentioned contacts with Trump associates. European intelligence services also began providing information “about people close to Mr. Trump meeting with Russians in the Netherlands, Britain and other countries.”
The Times notes that the nature of the meetings was not clear to the intelligence officials. The intercepted communications also provided little useful information.
Notably, The Times did not report the names of the Trump advisers and Russians who were allegedly involved in the discussions. It is unclear whether the Times’ sources provided the names, and if so, why they withheld the information.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer dismissed the claims in a statement to The Times.
“The only new piece of information that has come to light is that political appointees in the Obama administration have sought to create a false narrative to make an excuse for their own defeat in the election. There continues to be no there, there,” he told the newspaper.
BTTT
Wikileaks never did release the Podesta email that had the 2007-2008 Obama opposition research file.
Presumably every intelligence service in the world has it though.
Hopefully we average folks will get a look someday.
This is some sophisticated stuff. I remember when the Clinton staff took the “W” keys off of the keyboards before George Bush took over.
Temporary roadblocks and IEDs laid by Obama has created a new battlefield that will rock the democrats for as long as Trump is in power. We can only hope to see Hillary prosecuted and jailed as classified information pertaining to her investigation is exposed to the public and courts; and as the Hillary investigation moves to full prosecution the implecations of hauling Obama and his inner circle before the courts will also Restore the Rule of Law, and decimate the democrat leadership.
Money quote
I think you’re exactly right.
Remember when Trump was asked about his plans to defeat ISIS? He said only a fool would announce his plans in advance.
Same goes for dealing with a lot of the swamp creatures. Cases aren’t built overnight. But Trump moves fast and I think we will be seeing indictments very soon. First the low level perps, then on up to the top. I want to see not just indictments, but exposure of all the serious crimes these people are guilty of. That includes 0vomit and the Klintoons.
It is easy for liberals to defend these people when the charges are vague and they sound like political revenge. I don’t want to see any political revenge. I want to see charges that are so serious, so heinous, the the seriousness is undeniable to the vast majority of erstwhile liberal supporters. (There will always be a minority who would still defend them if they murdered a child on live TV.) And then I want to see looooooooong prison terms, probably for life.
Sedition...Treason...take your choice.
With the popularity of 24hr cable news interviews that tact has been taken to a new level. Now, sleazeballs like Chuck Todd who want to create their own scandals or gotchas while doing an interview can use a preface like; “How do you respond to people who are saying...”, or “It has been reported that...” and then they put in their own self serving accusation without it ever having been raised before. Or even worse it could be something they got off a web source like “Occupy Democrat” or “HuffPo”.
If this crap does not stop soon there will be a run on pitchforks and torches at the local farm supply store, stock up today!
If they had anything concrete they’d have put it out by now but they have nothing. That’s why we end up with all this innuendo and guessing and half baked accusations. They’re more effective at using this to drag out each little tid bit and being a pain in the ass even longer. This will not end until democrats start going to jail for subversion.
This should be relegated to a third-level issue, and must not drain energy from the effort to free the country from the Fed Government.
Stay on mission."
Only, there is a very sizable portion of the population that believes and backs all this subversion. There is also many who just aren't sure (in the middle).
It must be shown the light of day and defeated so that it doesn't grow any more.
The leakers and those that are trying to destroy the President must be held accountable.
“The press is putting out that a lot of Russian diplomats are turning up dead. Wonder if Obama is behind that somehow?”
Obama or McCain... Or both together.
“Obama Admin Sabotaged Trump’s Transition To The White House”
Of course they did. And prolly a lot worse that’s not being publicised.
I can hardly wait as well. However, if they’re laying the very best trap and it’s not quite fully set up, I will wait happily even if I break out in hives and scratch myself next to dead. 8)
I don’t want ANY of those scumbags to escape the net.
>>>The campaign was multifaceted but was not directed by Obama himself, the Times sources claimed<<<
Like Charles Manson, Hitler didn’t actually kill anyone himself.
Just sayin’...
One nut shot his cousin Geli in the chest.
I learn something new here every day. Thanks...
Why did he do it? Just curious. LOL
The key word here being YET, but they're working on creating some.
Fake evidence to support their fake news.
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